HICKIES x TED - A Fruitful Friendship

Posted by
Keith Martine
on
March 20, 2015

March 18th, 2015

What did Bill Gates, Tony Fadell, Monica Lewinsky, and Kailash Satyarthi have in common this week? Each, along with 70 other high profile individuals, will have spoken at TEDGlobal 2015, where HICKIES, Inc. was one of only two brands invited to have its product given directly to speakers when they stepped into their hotel room for the first time. The gift serves as a small token of our appreciation to the speakers for sharing his or her brilliant idea with the world.

HICKIES did not stop there. In addition to our gifts to the speakers, our team also felt the amazing community of attendees needed to walk away with something from us as well. We decided to gift each and every one of the 2,525 attendees with something special, too.

The relationship between TED and HICKIES began with a very rewarding gifting in November 2014 at TEDxNewYork, TED Conferences’ franchised offshoot. With this success well-noted by the TEDx team, the introduction was made to the TED Conferences team. One week later, HICKIES partnered with TED to create a one of a kind activation utilizing loose HICKIES, a pristine white Mott Street Cycles bicycle, and the imagination of hundreds of eager students from around New York for TEDYouth 2014 (global youth division of TED).

The result?

Hundreds of students crowded around the MSC bike to decorate it in HICKIES

The bike was covered from pedals to spokes to tires! This thing was barely even rideable. But it looked amazing with the contrast of the stark white gloss and bright HICKIES! Along the way, we realized we needed to do this more often. As a company and as individuals, we need to think younger. It allows for us to think of nuances we have gotten used to, question the way things are, and of course, Reimagine the Obvious!

As a thank you for helping us to realize this, extremely interested student (we tallied him at over 50 questions!) was chosen to win the bike. The prize winner, Liam was asked to come into the office and meet the team behind HICKIES once our resident artist, Sayuri Murakami was done tidying up the bike. All in all, the bike had over 5,000 individual HICKIES attached to it! A number we take as a sign for it's been over 5,000 years since the shoelace was invented, and now, replaced. :)

From L to R - Prize winner, Liam with his brother, and our founders, Mariquel and Gaston.

HICKIES' company credo of “Reimagining the Obvious” goes hand in hand with TED’s “Ideas Worth Spreading”. HICKIES, Inc. understands how ideas and design change the way we behave in this world, and the HICKIES Responsive Lacing System is a real-world application of this concept. At HICKIES, we believe in partnering with companies and individuals who seek to constantly improve the world while inspiring us as a company and as individuals. TED Conferences has and will continue to be a company of that caliber.

Thank you for reading! Please use coupon code "HICKIESxTED" to save 25% on your purchase. (expires April 3rd, 2015)